#Plant quarantine Branch

Another skunk was captured in Hilo by agriculture inspectors from the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity on Nov. 27. It was the second captured in Hilo in the month of November.

A live opossum was spotted at a car dealership on Maui yesterday afternoon and was put down by officers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Another live skunk was captured Thursday, this time at Honolulu Harbor. The previous skunk was captured at Hilo Harbor on Nov. 7.

A live skunk was captured at Hilo Harbor last Friday, Nov. 7, after two separate people from a shipping company reported seeing a skunk around Pier 1 early Thursday morning.

The Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture is reminding travelers attending the Merrie Monarch Festival next week that quarantine restrictions remain on the transport of ʻōhiʻa from Hawaiʻi Island due to the fungal plant disease, rapid ʻōhiʻa death (ROD), which is devastating to native forests. The Merrie Monarch Festival takes place in Hilo from April 20 to 26.

A highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake was found washed up on the shore at Honoliʻi Beach in Hilo last week. While these sea snakes are rarely seen onshore in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch strongly advises beach and ocean goers not to touch the venomous sea snakes which are often mistaken for eels. A sea snake is easily distinguished by the bright yellow markings on its underside.

An agriculture inspector from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Branch in Kona retrieved the animal early Sunday morning and arranged for it to be transported to Honolulu. This was the second opossum in as many months to be captured in the islands.

Plant quarantine inspectors with the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture trapped an opossum overnight at a big-box store in Iwilei. This marks the third opossum that has been captured on Oʻahu this year. The storage container where the opossum was trapped was not used for shipping.

A live snake was found in a container of Christmas trees as it was being unloaded at a store in Hilo on Saturday morning, Nov. 16.

A live skunk was captured at Honolulu Harbor Monday night by agriculture inspectors from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture after several days of tracking the animal.

Another live opossum has been captured in Honolulu. Freight workers in Kalihi were unloading construction material from a 40-foot shipping container Monday afternoon and spotted an animal that looked like a very large rat run and hide inside the container.

Lawmakers have unanimously passed and sent to Gov. Josh Green a bill for the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture to lead and coordinate the state’s invasive pest control and biosecurity efforts.

Three live adult coconut rhinoceros beetles (CRB) have been detected in traps in the Waikoloa area on Hawai‘i Island. The captures during the past week were the first detections of adult CRB on the island since six grubs (larvae) were found in October 2023, in a decaying palm tree by a resident in Waikoloa Village.

An interim rule has been established by the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture to restrict the movement of plants infested with little fire ants. The action comes after more reports of the invasive species of ants in windward O‘ahu.

The Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture is reminding travelers attending the Merrie Monarch Festival this week that quarantine restrictions remain on the transport of ʻōhiʻa from Hawaiʻi Island due to the fungal plant disease, rapid ʻōhiʻa death, which is devastating to native forests. The Merrie Monarch Festival begins in Hilo on March 31 and ends April 6.

Some Maui offices of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture will be temporarily closed for building maintenance from Jan. 12 to approximately early summer 2024.

One dead coconut rhinoceros beetle was found on Monday among compost bags at a Maui big-box store, by staff from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.

A raccoon was captured Wednesday in a shipping container of household goods and furniture on Oʻahu. The container came from Maryland via California and arrived at  Honolulu Harbor on March 19.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture today filed a request for a specific exemption from the US Environmental Protection Agency to allow Hawaiʻi coffee growers to use a fungicide to help manage coffee leaf rust, a fungus that is a serious threat to Hawaiʻi’s $56 million coffee industry.

A live ball python snake was captured over the weekend in Hilo on the road next to the South Hilo Sanitary Landfill by county workers.